Colombia - The Beginning!

It was a fairly eventful day getting to Colombia on Saturday. There were mega flight delays at Quito because of fog and when we arrived at 9.30am a lot of people had been waiting for a good few hours. The people at Avianca flight desk didn´t seem  to worried about checking us in. Suddenly an angry mob of Latinos barged in front of the desk, demanding to be allowed on our flight (they´d been at the airport since 4am!). I could see their point, but we also wanted to get to our destination. Luckily we´d started talking to a lovely Colombian lady and she helped us to sneak past and check in.

Arriving in Bogota we had 30 mins to get through passport control and onto our connecting flight. I managed to grab an Avianca lady and she rushed us past the queue and straight to the desk (our new friend and her son were with us too). We then had to get a bus to another terminal and then run to the gate...which we found out was the wrong one. So we then ran again and got onto the flight just after 3pm (flight was meant to leave at 3!).

We arrived in Santa Marta at the time we had meant to and began to relax. Our luggage appeared quickly (Paula was amazed) and Ingrid helped us to get a taxi and even changed some money for us!

We arrived in Taganga to not the most salubrious looking hostel. We were greeted by a slightly deaf old man who showed us our room. We explained that we wanted a twin not a double (he didn´t seem to understand the difference!) but he kindly changed some sheets for us on the very tiny twin beds. (The old man turned out to be quite sweet, but it was not what we were wanting or hoping for.)

As quickly as we could we ran away to find an alternative for our return visit to Taganga...Paula was not overly optimistic, but I pointed out we´d had a guardian angel watching over us and our luck seemed to be pretty good. The first hostel we walked into had a room and we took it!

Later we had pasta overlooking the sea and it was beautiful - I´m looking forward to my return on Saturday, when I will find out all about Paula´s trek to the lost city.

On Sunday I moseyed on to Santa Marta. On arriving at the hostel I met an English and an Aussie guy who had blatantly been up all night. They were pretty funny and in a lot of ways pretty familiar. Although that being said I wasn´t over keen on sharing a dorm with them, so I asked the guy at the desk if I could change and got moved to an empty dorm - phew! After ripping the piss for a while with the guys I went exploring and to sort out boring things like cash and transport to Cartagena. Rest of the day panned out fine, all got sorted and an extremely early night was taken.

Monday - transport was uneventful apart from being a little late and I got to Cartagena in slightly over 4 hours. I was delivered to my hostel anbd shown my room. Again I´m sharing with guys but there is another girly too. The guys are Spanish and seem to think quite a lot of themselves - boring!

Felt a little weird and alone yesterday but that was soon remedied with a wander around the old town; viewing the sunset sitting in the ramparts; and the purchase of a new red dress! Shopping always helps me settle into somewhere new! Also managed to talk to Mum and Dad which was cool.

Last night I met up with Paula´s friend Melanie who is lovely and we had a thoroughly good time getting to know each other over a couple of mojitos. We´re cathing up again tonight for dinner.

Today I´ve been ambling and had many people trying to sell me stuff - they all seem to think I´m a rich person from a cruise ship!? It´s entertaining for trying out my Spanish though!

Ok, more exploring and possible shopping to be done!

Over!

So the term is finally over and how do I feel, well...I feel shit actually. I should be jumping for joy because I'm on holiday and also found out today that I will be getting the $800 which was stolen back on Monday. Yet I've felt stressed, sick and close to tears for most of the last 24 hours.

I really miss everyone and have pushed away someone who I know cares for me very much, at a time when my best friend here has just left and I don't have her support just down the corridor. However I couldn't let the situation continue any longer, it's something I have thought about for some time.

It's weird being away from family and friends at Christmas, which is why I need to be somewhere entirely different and new.

Today's mantra: Taganga, Taganga, Taganga.

Term's almost over...

and apparently it's almost Christmas, although it doesn't feel like it.

I had the final show of my Christmas production last night which went incredibly well - many compliments from parents and friends. It's without doubt the biggest show I've ever put together and to be honest I'm damn glad I won't have to try and top it next year.

Also last night I ended things with the guy, which was hard and sad. I did it face to face and seriously hope that the friendship will not end too.

Today I feel lonely and sad - even though I know it's the right thing to do. I want to talk to my family and friends at home.

In two days time I will be in Colombia, where many new places and people will surely put me into a better head state.

Ants; Bears; Shopping; Swine!

I can't believe it's December already and that I've only posted about 4 times since the start of term - time is flying by!

I'm currently in the midst of organising the Christmas Production at school. The play is 'The Peace Child', one I did a few years ago back home, but this time it's on a much grander scale! We have a real theatre (at the local university); lights; costumes; projected backdrops (created by moi!); the works! It's also nearly double the number of kids that I had last time.

The kids are doing really well, the acting is still needing a lot of work, but the singing and dancing is coming on leaps and bounds! I have been living, breathing, eating and sleeping this production for several weeks now, but last night I even dreamt about it - sad eh? The crazy thing is that in 2 weeks time it will all be over. I am loving the excuse to be a drama queen though! It also keeps me going at this point in the term. I keep offering the director of the school a role as one of my gangster Mafia bears, but he doesn't seem too keen! I have been getting quite a lot of compliments about the singing which has been great.

Aside from all the drama at school, I've had a little drama myself. I realised last week that $800 had been stolen from my Ecuadorian account. I am 99% certain that I know when and where this happened, my card was cloned at a cash machine. My account has been frozen whilst the bank investigates and I don't expect to hear anything for at least another week. This is frustrating because I'm not sure if I'll get the money back and I also would like this all sorted before I go to Colombia at Christmas - which really isn't very long away now.

Last weekend I hired a car and me, Adri and another girl headed off to Otavalo for the weekend. I bought quite a few Christmas presents, including a leather jacket and a ring for myself. I also discovered over the weekend that there's nowt so queer as folk! The 'other' girl was decidedly odd and has made me question myself and whether she behaved the way she did because of me. I don't think so, but I find it strange not to have worked her out. I think the truth of the matter is that she has multiple personalties, but y'know, a decent thank you for driving and organising the hostel would have been nice.

On the upside though, Adri and I had a lovely time and having the car meant we could go up to the Mojanda lakes. Stupidly, I didn't take my camera. Luckily Adri leant me hers. I'm finding that I'm very into black and white photography at the moment.

The ants mentioned in the title refer to the army of them that I found in my kitchen when I got home on Monday. I nuked them and they seem to have gone but it was not a nice experience.

Lastly, swine! We have had two confirmed cases of swine flu at school. I have told my class that they do not have permission to get ill! However it does mean that I get tomorrow off school.